Your top 5 favourate guitarists?

[musicl]

What are your personnal top 5 favourate guitarists. Put what bands they where in beside there name.

Mine are:
1. Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)
2. Brian May (Queen)
3. Slash (Guns N Roses)
4. George Harison (Beatles)
5. Eric Clapton (Yardbirds, Cream, Dominoes, and more)

Also worth a mention - Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) and Jimmy Hendrix.

[sanariot]

Haven't had much time to think about it, but Prince is a seriously underrated guitarist. Top 5 not sure, but maybe...

EDIT: Eddie Van Halen's definitely on my list.

[sanariot]

Maybe Phil Manzanera from Roxy Music...

[GoHawks4]

Hendrix and Tom Morello. Anyone can play skillfully or fast, but it takes someone special to make people look at the guitar in a whole new light.

[Bob Morocco]

Not the five best but my favorite

1. Jimi
2. Jimmy
3. Stevie
4. Pete
5. Lou

[CHICO13]

5. Duanne Allman
4. Stevie Ray Vaughn
3. Frank Zappa
2. Carlos Santana
1. Jimi Hendrix

[christopher d]

Haven't had much time to think about it, but Prince is a seriously underrated guitarist. Top 5 not sure, but maybe...

Most definitely. He did a cover of Whole Lotta Love at his show that left me thinking "Jimmy who?"

[nicodemus]

In alphabetical order, my 5 favorite are:

Trey Anastasio (Trey Anastasio Band, Phish)
Barthelemy Attisso (Orchestra Baobab)
Michael Hedges
Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine)
Ali Farka Toure

-Honorable mention to Larry LaLonde of Primus for having to find guitar parts weird enough to complement Les Claypool.

[Auriaprottu]

Faves, as "best" is subjective. No particular order.

George Benson
Pat Metheny
Lindsey Buckingham
Michael Hedges (Good call, Nico- he came to mind the second I saw the thread title)
Wes Montgomery

Honorable mention: Neal Schon (Journey), The Edge (early U2), Earl Klugh, Tuck Andress, Stanley Jordan, Steve Morse, Andy Summers (The Police)

[655321]

I've always felt Prince was one of the most underappreciated guitarists around right now...

[Real Ray]

Five is tough:

Freddy King: My favourite blues player. A sound and style as big he was.

Mark Knopfler: Wonderful tone; great blend of country picking and rock.

Jimi Hendrix: The Jackson Polllock of guitar players-opened the door, and we've never gone back.

Bill Frisell: A real unique talent-on my scorecard I but him alongside Adrian Belew and Tom Morello. Great individualist with a true personal sound and style.

Pat Metheny: Fantastic player-although at times his "Brasil thing" can sound repetitive. Still, when you see him live, he always delivers.

Honorable Mention: Albert Lee, Richard Thompson, Jeff Beck and John McLaughlin.

[caliban]

Andy Gill (Gang of Four)
Loren Mazzacane Connors
Tom Verlaine (Television)
Jimi Hendrix
Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth)

[Cweedchop]

5. Danny Gatton

4. Michael Schenker (UFO, MSG, Scorpions)

3. Roy Clark

2. Ry Cooder

1. Gary Moore (Thin Lizzy but mostly solo efforts)

[Soccernova78]

1. Jimi Hendrix
2. Stevie Ray Vaughn
3. Eddie Hazel (Funkadelic)
4. Albert King
5. Tom Morello (RATM)

Honorable Mention: Jimmy Page (Led Zep) Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Buddy Guy, Duane Allman (Allman Brothers), Jeff Beck, Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), Charlie Christian.

[diabouloussataneus]

1 santriani
2 Santana
3 Henneman
4 Ianomi
5 mantas

[nicephoras]

I've only got a top 1, really. Its Page, for me. The solo on "Ever since I've been loving you" is just freaking awesome.
OK, maybe Hendrix would be 2. But beyond that, just too many good ones to choose from.

[chad]

Anyone familiar with Ralf Spight from Victims Family? I loved the way he plaed in that band.

[bojendyk]

1. Joey Santiago (The Pixies)
2. Kurt Bloch (The Fastbacks)
3. Mark Knopfler
4. The Ian/Guy combo in Fugazi
5. Doug Martsch (Built to Spill)

Joey Santiago is probably the only guitarist to do something genuinely new since the heydey of the Police. I think all of my choices see the lead guitarist's role as a means of fleshing out a song, not as a means of showing off between the second chorus and third verse.

I was tempted to add Kurt Cobain simply for the solo in Smells Like Teen Spirit. It's a solo that someone who has been playing for six months can learn, and I doubt there was a guitarist around in the early 90s who didn't wish he had thought of it first.

(Hendrix is, of course, amazing, as is Eddie. They're just not my favorites.)

[Motterman]

No love for Randy Rhoads?

Like the Knopfler and Prince picks as well.

Leo Kottke
David Gilmour (Pink Floyd)
George Thorogood
Slash

[Auriaprottu]

I think all of my choices see the lead guitarist's role as a means of fleshing out a song, not as a means of showing off between the second chorus and third verse.

I was tempted to add Kurt Cobain simply for the solo in Smells Like Teen Spirit. It's a solo that someone who has been playing for six months can learn, and I doubt there was a guitarist around in the early 90s who didn't wish he had thought of it first.

Congrats on a well thought out and mature approach to hearing the instrument. The last paragraph reminded me of why I liked the Edge's playing with early (through Joshua Tree) U2, and Andy's Police work. It wasn't quite simple enough for a six-month player to master, but it wasn't "hey, everybody- I'm going to go out of my way to show all of you how ong I've been practicing!" either.

The guys on my list can/could all solo (hell, that's what made Benson famous), and one of them made his name without accompaniment, but the "gunslinger" attitude is one that music can do without. It's cool to listen to old Zeppelin and Hendrix, but trying to bring that vibe into the modern era is going to be a failure for most players. The 80s hair bands were an example of this- all the swagger of Jimi & Jimmy with none of the musicality.